Comments on: The Formula For An Episode Of Murder, She Wrote

By: Stevyn Colgan

Stevyn Colgan — Sat, 16 Apr 2016 11:42:23 +0000

Completely accurate! I’ve always said that, before Angela Lansbury pops her clogs, they should make one final episode where it’s revealed that Jessica Fletcher is the world’s most prolific and clever serial killer and that she’s got away with thousands of murders. I see her lying on her deathbed, recounting her evil plots using clips as flashbacks. Her final words would be: ‘People were dying all around me everywhere I went but you were all too stupid to see! Stupid! Stupid! Ha ha ha ha ha! Urrrgh.” Clutches chest. The heart monitor flatlines. Beeeeeeeep. Freeze frame on her evil grinning corpse.

By: Nomi

Nomi — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 03:05:31 +0000

Oh! And once in a blue moon, it’s like they called in a completely different bunch of writers and there’s a great episode. The two that come to mind are “If It’s Thursday, It Must Be Beverly,” and “Tinker, Tailor, Liar, Thief.” The first is like a 1930s/40s farce with great goofy timing; the second is completely different, one of the international intrigue ones, but really tight and smart and a bit Hitchcockian. Really a delight.

By: Nomi

Nomi — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 01:16:52 +0000

What’s amazing is how Angela Lansbury, w/some help from William Windom in the Cabot Cove eps, carry the show despite the usually weak plots. There’s actually some great writing in their scenes, which is partly why I prefer the Cabot Cove episodes and wish they made up more than 1/5 or so of the total.

For me, that’s it’s formulaic is not a problem, but rather the flimsiness w/in the formula. But, eh, not too much of a problem because we’re watching for the wonder that is Jessica Fletcher, not great mystery writing. Columbo is arguably more formulaic and more ridiculous. But we watch it to see Peter Falk do his thing over and over.

By: DS

DS — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 14:53:45 +0000

Mhmm…I feel you (and Matlock, too–anyone?).

Murder She Wrote Viewing Primer:

Admire Angela Lansbury, and–in particular–JB Fletcher’s grace in social situations.

You must guess the killer before what could be called the “second-act turn” and stick to it.
With time, your guesses will be far more accurate.

Please pay attention to Jessica and her friends’ “Champs Lexicaux”: (See, “I dare say…” “Why, I’d be delighted”)

To truly enjoy the subtleties of the formula, and thereby really “get” the show, it is important within your career of episode-watching to track:

Why JB happens to be in the situation where someone is murdered.

What is the setting (circus, horse racing, archeological dig).

Who hits on her (for example, the most preserved oldie of a suitably comparable age with a good job).

The manner in which the plot is orchestrated so that the police chief/detective/interested party needs her unwilling help (new to the job, not smart enough to do it himself, wants to keep the authorities out of it).

How she entraps the guilty party.

Keep in mind the intended audience (senior citizens) and note general topics tailored to the dreams and fears of said audience, how “young people” are represented, the frequency of multi-generation relationships, and references to and representations of the big city, etc. vs. Cabot Cove, etc.

Point out actors you recognize from other things, especially in regard to whose careers were more/less/as successful post.

Commentary on clothing and set design is heavily encouraged.

Ultimately, the successful viewer will feel themselves in some part a meta-JB, never permitting to let lie unremarked upon even the smallest of details.

By: annie

annie — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 18:15:26 +0000

you forgot that it always ends with a smile!

By: Jessica De La Rosa

Jessica De La Rosa — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 00:56:38 +0000

Well…you’re not wrong. Though I am partial to Jessica for, well, obvious reasons.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 21:45:35 +0000

You, sir, are a genius.

By: Steven Pennebaker

Steven Pennebaker — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 15:38:36 +0000

You missed a critical move: 35-40 minutes in, Police Idiot must arrest Red Herring so JF can shake her head and say, “I think you’ve got the wrong man.” Red Herring is usually JF’s nephew or her niece’s boyfriend/fiancee. JF has thousands of nephews and nieces, her siblings bred like rabbits.

By: Jeff Rodman

Jeff Rodman — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 15:33:12 +0000

Having a wife who loved the show, I found this especially LOL. It deserves a staged reading of some sort, perhaps with hats or something to precisely identify the players. ” I regret stepping in the murder moss” is a line for the ages!

By: Christian Collins

Christian Collins — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 14:17:05 +0000

That was fantastic! Thank-you.

By: Sharna

Sharna — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 10:54:25 +0000

I adore when Jessica is thrown about and a man in a wig takes over as body-double. The reuse of actors as different characters adds a thrilling additional layer for the MSW devotee (wasn’t he a salesman and now he’s the sheriff?). The ones based in Oireland are hilarious, 4th generation Irish-American actors that have never heard an Irish accent in their lives.
The dinner parties where a guest is introduced to Mrs Fletcher but they ignore her and create a scene by launching into an unexpected diatribe and threaten vengeance on another guest before leaving others to apologise for them. MSW/Magnum cross-over failed to live up to expectation but still worth a watch

By: ERIC

ERIC — Sun, 14 Jun 2015 03:43:30 +0000

Very, very funny breakdown of the show, but as a die hard fan, I feel that I should explain that MSW is meta fiction, as explained in the opening sequence. The real Jessica Fletcher is actually just a widowed teacher turned author who never really solves murders. She invents many characters to solve murders, but during the writing process she imagines herself as the crime solver. That’s why at the typewriter she is unfiltered reality, but then she is seen in dream like sequences with a foggy border. Notice after the bang we clearly see the words “door opened” on the page, then in fantasy scenes you see Jessica beside an opening shining a flashlight, trying to pick a door lock, peeking through a door, and running through a door. Then at the end we can read “Arnold raced out the door”. We can infer that Arnold is the character to actually solve the crime, so by that point she has replaced herself with the character. What we are watching in the episode Is the fantasy, before she replaces herself.

By: Link Olio | Jared Sandman

Link Olio | Jared Sandman — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 00:49:09 +0000

[…] also came across this post about Murder, She Wrote. It skewers formula-driven scriptwriting in a hilarious fashion. Even though I’ve never seen […]

By: Murder? I hardly knew 'er!

Murder? I hardly knew 'er! — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 20:44:43 +0000

This was great. My favorite part is that you can set your watch on the time she declares that it’s a murder (for the episodes where the death was mistaken as suicide)

By: Bec

Bec — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 13:49:28 +0000

Ah, Murder She Wrote. It ran daily at around 7.30am in the weeks after I had my first baby, so I’d watch it and either fall asleep and miss a major plot point (not really an issue, though, as you illustrate) or be irrationally envious of her tidy house.

Great piece. It had me laughing out loud :)

By: Lansbury fan

Lansbury fan — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 08:15:15 +0000

Literally the best thing I’ve ever read.

By: C0Mmander

C0Mmander — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 23:34:30 +0000

IRRELEVANT CHARACTER WHO LOOKS CONFUSINGLY FAMILIAR!! You have thwarted my ability to enjoy a video narrative continuously for far too long!

By: Michael Beckett (@Mike_Beckett)

Michael Beckett (@Mike_Beckett) — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 16:26:58 +0000

Hi Tom I think you missed the key aspect. I accuse Jessica Fletcher of being the mass murder who is actually framing people as she goes and writing spin fiction nailing people for what only she could have achieved. The correlations of murders and her vicinity lead to no other rational conclusion, really!

By: Pointless Meme

Pointless Meme — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 11:17:12 +0000

10/10 lol’d, would lol again.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 09:40:46 +0000

Thank you for this buddy – funniest thin I’ve read in a while -bid anything it’s made me want to watch the show even *more* :)

By: Fatty dumdum.

Fatty dumdum. — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 07:58:51 +0000

Now do Magnum PI! :)

By: mark powlett

mark powlett — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 06:34:16 +0000

I laughed so much at this…that I must actually watch an episode some time. I feel it may be even funnier if I had the actual show in my mind :/
Excellent

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Sun, 10 Aug 2014 22:52:39 +0000

Oops, ta. I’ve edited this post like 20 times and I still didn’t see that.

By: CdrJameson

CdrJameson — Sun, 10 Aug 2014 22:13:03 +0000

Don’t forget that old saying:

If you’ve got a formula, you’ve got a game!

(also ‘kinda’ nuts)

By: Darnn

Darnn — Sun, 10 Aug 2014 16:20:43 +0000

As someone who translated the entire runs of Poirot and Marple for Israeli TV, I enjoyed this thoroughly.

By: Kia

Kia — Sun, 10 Aug 2014 08:18:30 +0000

Thank you. The numberless hours in which I watched that show, unable to account for the strange spell it cast over me, have been redeemed from the abyss of meaninglessness. Have you ever watched QUINCY? It has a lot of ACTING in it mostly by JACK KLUGMAN and nobody else seems so mind or notice that he SHOUTS ALL THE TIME.

By: DR. MARK SLOANE

DR. MARK SLOANE — Sat, 09 Aug 2014 18:37:54 +0000

Yes, the only serial killer ever to approach my own record was that terrible woman; Jessica Fletcher! Why, she didn’t even have the advantage of most of her crimes being investigated by her own son… I can’t imagine how she remained undetected for so long.

By: David

David — Sat, 09 Aug 2014 03:03:08 +0000

You forgot an essential element : ‘May I use your phone?”

By: HANDSOME YOUNG MAN WHO WORKS FOR SOMEONE

HANDSOME YOUNG MAN WHO WORKS FOR SOMEONE — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 22:26:12 +0000

You are on to me and I will track you down.

By: Henry Stenhouse

Henry Stenhouse — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 17:12:51 +0000

This is brilliant. I used to watch that during summer when I was a lazy child with nothing to do. Not quite as productive.

Next up: Diagnosis Murder!

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 17:01:16 +0000

Have you seen the one that jumps back to an old black and white film? Or the one set in Virtual Reality? Whenever I’m home I do much the same.

It’s just a pity that Murder She Wrote isn’t part of the Tommyverse. Or is it?

By: Craig Moore

Craig Moore — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 16:20:52 +0000

As somebody who has also worked from home (for the better part of far, far too long), I can fully appreciate the mind altering effects that daytime TV can have on you.

I commend you, Tom. God speed.